A dear friend of mine was visiting in MO and ran across an old man in a little shop that was loaded with vintage R/C stuff. She said I would have gone nuts in there and is probably right. She picked me up some 40 year old issues of RC Modeler magazine. She said she just got me four of them based on the cuties on the front , they were a dollar each.

Thumbing through these really tossed me back in time. A simpler time when there was no chaotic graphics and no www.whatever.com plastered all over the place. Each of these four mags have excellent 2-4 page thermal soaring articles featuring NEW sailplanes that some are still building today. There is an article describing the LSF, only 100 members at the time. The feel, smell and content of these old issues are very comforting and relaxing. She said he had stacks of these all in excellent condition. I have a contact in MO that will buy out the rest of them for me. I love to sit down with a nice cocktail and read through these and dream of the good old days...

Well for those on the east coast (PA.) it was a great day out. We hit 70 degress, sunny and not more then a light breeze. So I packed up a couple of planes and went for a fly, I could not beleive how clean the air was. no bumps or turbulance at all. Of course there was not a lot of lift either. Found a few small areas that extended my flight a little bit. But when I was just gliding down it seemed like the plane was just flying level, but it was slowing coming down. I am sure this was an effect of the clean air with no turbulance.

Well I flew my electra for a 30 min flight, Had about 1/2 a charge left in the pack when I came down.

Upon getting home I started to Winterize all my packs. This is the way I want to remeber gliding for the entire winter. I have to get ready for a vacation for the rest of the week, and by the time I get back I doubt it will be warm enough for me to enjoy going out flying.

Now for a question, I have been storing the electra in the garage which doubles as a work shop, While the wings look clean if you run your hand across them, they feel rough. There is a dust/dirt build up on the Monocoat. I have been meaning to clean it off, just have not gotten to it. How much does this effect flight? Its nothing you can see just feel.

I would tend to think that if you can feel it the air can too. I'd be willing to bet this is the result of pollen build up over the years. Many of the cedar and pine pollens have a sticky sap that helps them stick to what they want to stick to and everything else as well.

Out here in Jollywood in the 50's there was a great old hobby shop owned by the actor Reginold Denny and was it great to brouse in there, lots of U control - free flights - boats - motors and train stuff too.

Images

You want these things like a baby's bottom or the skin on your fav main sqeeze, the smoother the better for anything that goes through the air.

Slipperey is the deal as each little bump - nook or cranny grabs some air, and they all add up.

G Don

Well, not exactly. In at least some cases, rough is better. It acts like turbulators, helps keep the flow attached. A properly engineered turbulator is better, but I have seen quite a few cases on smaller models, like our Roadkill Series, where sanding them perfectly smooth noticeably hurt the L/D.

At low Reynolds numbers, the flow would rather be laminar and separated than turbulent and attached. Turbulent and attached has significantly less drag than separated flow.

As promised, I'm reporting back with first results of my FPW. The short of it, try one was a comedy of errors. But I did learn a few things and will make another go at it in a day or two. It's got some bugs but I do think it will work in the end. details and photos in my Thermic 72 build thread. That would be here - http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1535361 for those of you that were negligent and didn't bookmark it.

Hey Don, who was the photographer listed for those covers? I wish the magazines would allow that type of cover shot again. Those are really well done.

TJ-
There was a couple different photogs on these, fellows named Tom Roe and Ed Okie. It's funny, the credits say, for example, Ektachrome transparency by Tom Roe .

Stevers-
Where you at? I was looking back on all the pics in the thread the other day and found the one with you and your watermelon cocktail . I thought, I'll bet Stevers land is starting to warm up a bit. Just about time to start brewing those up again, hey . I haven't tried it yet cause but it sure looks tasty.

Eddie-
That is so freakin cool! Was she a model or is she a pilot? Is she receiving that award? That needs to be in glass either way.

Out here in Jollywood in the 50's there was a great old hobby shop owned by the actor Reginold Denny and was it great to brouse in there, lots of U control - free flights - boats - motors and train stuff too.

What a great find with those early magazines.

G Don

Hey G Don

I remember about this same time period as these mags, I was only about 11, there was only one LHS that I can remember. It was in Irving here and was called Mal's Hobby Shop next to the old Irving Theater. I bought all my Guillows models and supplies there. About 1974 or so, they put in a slot car track and I got into that too. Sponge rubber tires and "Sticky Stuff" goop to help them stick to the track cause they went from zero to 9 million MPH in 24" . I miss those days...

GDon, IIRC wasn't Reginald Denny's hobby shop where Marlyin Monroe was discovered? I recall a photo of her with dark hair that was taken in a hobby shop and pretty sure it was his. I think she worked there. Also I seem to recall a story where he (Mr. Denny) was invloved in some very early military drone work.

OK, edit: I just read a brief bio on MM on Wiki. I KNOW I read something about her, Reginald Denny and model airplanes somewhere. She did work in an aircraft factory at one time though. Easily confused anymore I guess, especially when my two favorite subjects, model airplanes and gorgeous blondes, get mixed.